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September 28, 2010

This Day In TSW

1941 - Ted Williams goes 6-for-8 in a doubleheader against Philadelphia to finish the year (his third in the majors) with a .406 batting average. TSW goes 4-for-5 as the Red Sox win the first game 12-11; the A's win Game 2 7-1.

Looking at his game log, the last day his average was officially below .400 was July 24. He was hitting .436 (!) on June 6! On September 12, he was hitting .413. (The photo above was taken July 1, 1941, at Yankee Stadium.)

(It's a good thing the Red Sox did not fulfill Williams's request to be traded the previous season. In mid-August 1940, Williams told the Boston American: "I don't like this town. I don't like the people. I want to get out of town, and I'm praying that they trade me.")

1960 - Williams plays his final game at Fenway Park -- and the last game of his career. We all know he homered in his final time at bat, but he almost had another trip to the plate. He was in the on-deck circle with one out in the bottom of the ninth when an infield error gave Boston two runs and a 5-4 win. (Damn it. The botched THT headline should have made me think twice.)

I wrote about the recent edition of John Updike's famous essay on the game here. You can read the (slightly different) original here.